


wouldn't mind to fall in love

by midnightroom



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 09:56:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12815046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightroom/pseuds/midnightroom
Summary: Ten galleons.That was how much Marlene had wagered, and she was not going to lose, no matter how much Sirius grinned smugly and told her to wait and see.Lily would definitely kiss James first.





	wouldn't mind to fall in love

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally a gift for a very dear friend of mine but i liked it so much i decided to post it on here too!
> 
> anyway i love the marauders and christmastime at hogwarts so here you go! enjoy <3

Ten galleons.

That was how much Marlene had wagered, and she was not going to lose, no matter how much Sirius grinned smugly and told her to wait and see.

Lily would definitely kiss James first.

It had started out like this: they were all staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. Lily was staying too, for the first time. It’d taken some wheedling, but she had written home and her mum and dad had agreed that it was fine if she didn’t come home just this once.

Sirius and Marlene had gotten together in the common room and decided that Lily and James would have to get together sometime this holiday; their flirtations were becoming increasingly obvious and increasingly frustrating to their friends.

So they made a bet—ten galleons, who would make the first move? They shook on it and waited.

* * *

 The first day of break, Lily and James flirted at breakfast. They flirted at supper. They flirted in front of Remus, who rolled his eyes and looked exasperated. They flirted in front of Peter, who went rather red and scurried away, embarrassed. They flirted in front of Mary, who giggled a lot and immediately went to go find Marlene and tell her that “Lily and Potter are practically married already!"

Neither Lily nor James kissed the other, much to Marlene’s chagrin.

* * *

 The second day of break, Marlene grabbed Lily by the arm as they were changing into their nightgowns and undoing their plaits, ready to go to sleep. Mary was already asleep in one of the beds, breathing softly with her hair spread across her pillow like a halo.

“Lily,” Marlene said a bit too loudly to her friend, who blinked and looked rather alarmed, one side of her hair open and one side still in its braid with red strands frizzing out of it. “When are you and Potter getting it on?”

A laugh bubbled out of Lily, bright and happy. “What are you talking about?”

Marlene rolled her eyes fondly. “I mean, you fancy him. That much is obvious, but when are you gonna make a move on him?”

Lily ducked her head sheepishly and held back a grin. Snow had begun to fall outside, flurrying against the glass. “Dunno. Maybe he’ll make a move on me.”

“No!” Marlene cried.

“What?”

“No, I mean—er, well. You could always make a move on him if he’s too much of a pansy," Marlene said, trying to sound casual. This was a perfectly casual, normal conversation.

“I guess I could? What on earth is going on, Mar?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all! Goodnight!” said Marlene, flustered. She climbed into the wrong bed, making Mary roll over uncomfortably in her sleep and leaving Lily standing by the window with her hair still in one braid, confused by the whole ordeal.

It wasn't so much she needed those ten galleons, Marlene mused when she'd finally gotten into her own bed and pulled the duvet up to her chin. It was more that she wanted to beat Sirius.

* * *

 The third day of break, Sirius sat down in front of Marlene. She put down her buttered toast, waited for him to speak.

“So,” he said.

“So.”

“Any luck?”

“With Lily? Yes, I think so," Marlene said, tossing her hair a bit and trying not to let it show that she really hadn't had much luck at all. "Those ten galleons are as good as mine, Black.”

Sirius laughed. Marlene liked his laugh, she realized. Sirius had a nice laugh.

“Well James should—” He cut off, widening his dark eyes.

Marlene realized why when James plopped down next to her on the bench, reaching over and stealing the last bit of Sirius’s biscuit.

“Hi, mate,” James greeted Sirius. “D'you two wanna go out by the lake? Everyone’s there already, we're going to have an all out snowball war.”

“Sure,” Marlene agreed. “Lily’s there too, right? She was still asleep when I came downstairs.”

“She is,” said James, his gaze taking on somewhat of a dreamy quality.

Across the table, Sirius grinned cheekily at Marlene, knowing and secretive and—nice.

Sirius had a nice smile.

* * *

 It was Christmas Eve.

Neither Lily nor James had done anything in the past week because they were both utter dolts who didn’t want Marlene to get her ten galleons, and so she decided she had to improvise.

The fire was crackling in the hearth, and some of the other Gryffindors were busying themselves with decorating the common room with little banners and baubles, magicking holly across the room. An aroma of peppermint wafted through the air. Marlene smiled. The school looked absolutely lovely today, and the few students who had chosen to stay there were all lounging about, content and cozy and all donning properly festive jumpers.

Mary and Marlene sat on the steps, pleasantly full from the Christmas Feast. The trifle had been especially good that evening.

“Mary,” Marlene said.

“Mmm,” hummed the other girl noncommittally.

“If we put mistletoe above their heads, who do you think would kiss the other first?” She nodded down toward the sofa, where Lily and James were sitting, conversing with Remus.

Mary furrowed together her brows. “You’re awfully invested in them lately. What’s up, Marlene?”

Marlene smiled. “Okay, fine, but you can’t tell anyone. Sirius and I made a bet that they’d either kiss or get together first, and we bet on who’d make the first move. If Lily does, I get ten galleons. If James does, he gets ten galleons. I really don’t want to lose this bet because then I won’t hear the end of it from Sirius, and I just can't have that!"

“Ooh,” Marlene gasped. “Mistletoe? It's a good idea. Maybe then they’ll stop driving us all mental with their incessant flirting.”

“Exactly!”

“Okay, I think it’s worth a shot. Do you even have mistletoe, anyway?”

Marlene nodded, rather pleased with herself. “I got it today from Slughorn. Said Lily needed it and he gave it to me right away.”

Mary laughed. “Of course he did. Okay, well, go then! Before they get up or anything!”

Marlene nodded again and got up.

“Oh, and one more thing,” said Mary. “Since when do you call Black Sirius?”

“Er—I don’t know really. He calls me Marlene, you know.”

“Only recently. Maybe I’d better bet on _you_ two!" Mary said, wiggling her eyebrows knowingly.

“Oh, stop!” Marlene swatted at her friend good-naturedly, and made her way down the stairs to the middle of the common room, where Lily was gesturing animatedly at Remus, his lanky form sprawled out across the rug on the floor.

She was padding toward the sofa when—

“Marlene!” someone hissed behind her.

“Sirius!” she gasped quietly. “I thought you went to bed.”

He snorted. “Me, in bed at this time? Don’t be absurd. I was just nicking some treacle tart from the house elves.”

“You need to stop doing that, you know, because one day someone’s gonna catch you and you're going to be in serious troub—”

“Your hair looks nice,” Sirius cut in. “Like, oddly nice. What did you do with it?”

Marlene clutched her hand to her chest, faux-offended. “Are you implying my hair doesn’t look usually nice? How rude of you, Sirius Black!”

“No!” he rushed to say. “It always looks nice. I mean, I meant—it looks particularly nice today, although it looks nice everyday.” He suddenly blushed furiously and wrung his hands, looking a bit out of character.

Marlene smiled and twined a strand of hair around her finger, endeared and a little bit giddy, her heart fluttering although she wasn’t really sure why. (Well, she was. She knew exactly why her heart was fluttering.) "I understand, don’t worry.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“Wait,” Sirius said. “Why are you creeping up on them?”

“Hush!” she hissed.

His gaze flicked down to her hand, clutching her wand and the sprig of mistletoe. She could see him connecting the dots.

“You never said we couldn’t, um...speed up the process! So that’s what I’m doing. Don’t you dare say a word, wait for them to notice it.”

Sirius grinned. “Alright, you’ve got me there. Get ready to cough up ten galleons.”

“You wish,” she retorted, placing the mistletoe flat in the palm of her hand. “Wingardium leviosa,” Marlene murmured, swishing and flicking painstakingly carefully. She slowly, slowly let the plant waft through the air, suspending it right above Lily and James’s heads.

Sirius held his breath. Marlene could tell because her shoulder suddenly went cold, the absence of his breath making her realize just how close he was standing to her, making her heart pick up its pace again and the mistletoe waver in the air. She bit her lip, nervous.

Remus saw it first, looking confused, then surprised, then almost bursting out laughing when he saw Marlene with her wand behind them. She pleaded with her eyes for him not to say a word. He didn’t. Marlene loved Remus.

Lily finally caught on. She looked up and gasped, realizing exactly what the floating sprig above her head was. James did too, and they both froze.

Marlene and Sirius leaned ahead, both of them anxious to see who would lean first and—

They both laughed and then they were tilting their heads and fitting their mouths against each others and finally, actually kissing each other at the same time.

Sirius and Marlene turned to each other, incredulous. What was to happen?

“So,” Marlene started, lowering her wand and letting the mistletoe fall down onto James’s or Lily’s lap.

“Who cares?” exclaimed Sirius and started to clap, cheering loudly.

Marlene felt a smile spread across her face, and she clapped too. The entire room burst out into cheers and Lily broke away from James, abashed. She hid her smile in his shoulder and James just held her close and grinned dopily, looking as though he was drunk on happiness.

“So, I guess I don’t owe you ten galleons then?” Sirius said, finally tearing his fond gaze away from his friends and to Marlene.

“Guess not.”

“Good.”

“Good. Didn’t we just say this a few minutes ago?”

“We did,” agreed Sirius. “Also I was thinking.”

“Yeah?” Marlene said.

“Yeah. And I think that maybe we do both owe each other ten galleons. But maybe we could make up for it with. A kiss?” Sirius sounded rather unsure, which wasn’t like him at all, and swept his hair out of his eyes.

Marlene’s heart swelled. “That sounds like a great idea.”

And she leaned forward and kissed him.

(It was a good Christmas.)


End file.
